JetBlue Blocking Mint Partner Awards

Partner airline miles has been one of the best ways to book JetBlue Mint business class seats. That may not be the case anymore. Earlier this month, One Mile at a Time reported about JetBlue blocking Mint partner awards for airline partners like Qatar Airways and Etihad Guest. Where it had previously been fairly easy to redeem partner miles like Qatar Airways Avios and Etihad Guest Miles for JetBlue Mint, it's become increasingly difficult in recent weeks to find business class award space through partner programs. Here's everything we know right now.

What Happened To Partner Award Availability?

JetBlue offers its Mint business class product on most transcontinental, Caribbean, and long-haul international routes. Unlike most airlines, JetBlue isn't a part of an alliance like Oneworld or SkyTeam, but it still has several airline partners whose miles you can use to book JetBlue flights.

Unfortunately, award availability to book through partner airlines has been almost nonexistent lately. That's likely because JetBlue reportedly is changing how it releases Mint award space to its partner airlines. The airline has created a new “A” fare class for its Mint awards, no longer using the “I” fare class that was also for discounted cash business class tickets.

Of its partner airlines, Qatar Airways Privilege Club had been the best for booking Mint. That was true not only for the redemption rates, but because it was reliably easy to find award availability — even during peak travel times. For example, Qatar charged 78,000 Avios each way for business class flights between the U.S. East Coast and Europe. Etihad Guest was also a solid option, with those same long-haul routes bookable for 80,000 miles each way.

It remains to be seen whether we'll see wide-open Mint award space through Qatar or Etihad again. For now, if you want to fly JetBlue Mint with points and miles, you'll either need JetBlue TrueBlue points (a lot of them) or you might be better off booking a cash fare with points through a credit card travel portal.

JetBlue Blocking Mint Partner Awards: ToP Final Thoughts

JetBlue restricting partner award availability for Mint is a bummer. While it wasn't the cheapest business class redemption out there, booking JetBlue Mint business class with Qatar Avios was one of the most reliable options. Plus, you could book Mint seats no matter what credit card points you earn as all the major transferrable points programs have a path to getting Qatar Avios.

Let's hope JetBlue eases up and releases more Mint partner award space in the future, but we aren't holding our breath. Share your thoughts on this development over in the ToP Facebook Group.